iPhone tracking app led police to Las Vegas home invasion suspects

A family was tied up, pistol-whipped and held at gunpoint early Monday by a group of three people who ransacked a south valley home and made off with money, electronics and at least six firearms, according to an arrest report released Thursday.

By RACHEL CROSBY LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

July 22, 2016 - 5:49 pm

Dominic Maratita (Las Vegas Metropolitan Police)

Jonathan Mika (Las Vegas Metropolitan Police)

A family was tied up, pistol-whipped and held at gunpoint early Monday by a group of three people who ransacked a south valley home and made off with money, electronics and at least six firearms, according to an arrest report released Thursday.

Two men — Jonathan Mika, 34, and Dominic Maratita, 41 — were taken into custody later that morning, thanks to a ‘Find My iPhone’ signal from one of the family’s stolen iPhones, which pinpointed the pair’s location.

At the pair’s location — a far-southwest valley apartment that Maratita was renting — police found “all firearms, electronics and identification items” that were taken from the family during the home invasion, the report reads.

The home invasion started about 3:20 a.m., when one family member was awake and playing video games, according to the report. As he was playing, his game suddenly shut off, so he went downstairs to reset the East Sierra Stone Lane home’s Internet modem but realized the power was off.

That’s when the family member went outside to check the home’s power box, but spotted three people standing in his backyard. One of the three people spotted the family member, then held a gun to the family member’s head and led him back inside.

So began the home invasion, where two of the three robbers woke up every other family member by either kicking down their bedroom door, pistol-whipping them in the head or waking them up at gunpoint, the report reads. One relative was hit so hard in the head — causing him to “bleed all over” — he later needed stitches.

Once all six relatives were awake, at least one of whom was a juvenile, they were led into the home’s second-story hallway, where many were tied up as the group tore apart the home in search of cash.

During the home invasion, one of the people with a gun demanded one of the family members to open up the home’s gun safe. Once the safe was open, the group took the four guns inside as well as two guns the group found earlier on top of a refrigerator in the family’s home.

They made off with iPhones, at least one laptop and wallets, credit cards and IDs for everyone in the home, along with a backpack, which was also located at Maratita’s apartment later in the day.

When police were led to Maratita’s apartment through signals from one of the stolen iPhones, they found Mika sitting, parked, in a car that matched the description of the car caught on a neighbor’s surveillance camera arriving and leaving early Monday during the home invasion.

Maratita did not admit to ever entering the family’s home, but Mika told police he and Maratita “entered the residence in a location he was not familiar with and began robbing the home while the third person waited downstairs as a lookout.

Mika “stated that he was doing this because he was homeless and was trying to put a roof over his head,” according to the report. Mika added that “his role in the incident was to make sure nobody got hurt because he did not want anybody to get shot.”

Both men are facing six counts of robbery with a deadly weapon and six counts of first-degree kidnapping, because six family members were home at the time of the invasion. They are also facing a charge each of burglary while in possession of a gun and possession of stolen property, and both are being held without bail at the Clark County Detention Center.

Both Mika and Maratita are due in court Aug. 8. The third person, who reportedly served as a lookout, was not in custody as of Thursday.